Nicholas Payton

Biography

Nicholas Anthony Payton, 26 September 1973, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Born into a musical family, Payton took up the trumpet at the age of four. Encouraged by his pianist-singer mother and his bass-playing father, he swiftly reached a level of proficiency that enabled him, at the age of nine, to play alongside his father in the Young Tuxedo Brass Band. At 12 he was a member of the All Star Jazz Band, playing with this group both locally and at European festivals. Encouraged by Wynton Marsalis he played semi-professionally throughout his school years, then enrolled at the New Orleans Centre for Creative Arts where he studied the trumpet, music theory and also undertook classical training. He next attended the University of New Orleans where he studied with Ellis Marsalis. During the early 90s Payton played throughout the USA and also in Europe with many leading jazz musicians. These artists included Clark Terry, on a SS Norway Jazz Cruise in 1990, and Marcus...